The illustrious emperor thus took heed of the apostolic decrees, but
Audæus, a Syrian alike in race and in speech, appeared at that
time as an inventor of new decrees. He had long ago begun to incubate
iniquities and now appeared in his true character. At first he
understood in an absurd sense the passage “Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness.”698698Gen. i. 26 From want
of apprehension of the meaning of the divine Scripture he understood
the Divine Being to have a human form, and conjectured it to be
enveloped in bodily parts; for Holy Scripture frequently describes the
divine operations under the names of human parts, since by these means
the providence of God is made more easily intelligible to minds
incapable of perceiving any immaterial ideas. To this impiety
Audæus added others of a similar kind. By an eclectic process he
adopted some of the doctrines of Manes699699 Vide
note on page 75.
and denied that the God of the universe is creator of either fire or
darkness. But these and all similar errors are concealed by the
adherents of his faction.

They allege that they are
separated from the assemblies of the Church. But since some of them
exact a cursed usury, and some live unlawfully with women without the
bond of wedlock, while those who are innocent of these practices live
in free fellowship with the guilty, they hide the blasphemy of their
doctrines by accounting as they do for their living by themselves. The
plea is however an impudent one, and the natural result of Pharisaic
teaching, for the Pharisees accused the Physician of souls and bodies
in their question to the holy Apostles “How is it that your
Master eateth with publicans and sinners?”700700Mark ii. 16. Observe verbal
inaccuracy of quotation.
and through the prophet, God of such men says “Which say,
‘come not near me for I am pure’ this is smoke of my
wrath.”701701Is. lxv. 5. The Greek of the
text is οἱ
λέγοντες
καθαρός εἰμι,
μή μου ἅπτου
οὗτος καπνὸς
τοῦ θυμοῦ
μου. In the Sept. the passage
stand οἱ
λεγοντες
ποῤ& 191·ω ἀπ᾽
ἐμου, μὴ
ἐγγίσῃς μοι
ὅτι καθαρός
εἰμι, etc. The O.T. is
quoted as loosely as the New. But this is not a time to refute their
unreasonable error. I therefore pass on to the remainder of my
narrative.702702 Anthropomorphism, or the attribution to God of a human form
is the frequent result of an unintelligent anthropopathism, which
ascribes to God human feelings. Paganism did not rise higher
than the material view. Judaism, sometimes apparently anthropomorphic,
taught a Spiritual God. Tertullian uses expressions which exposed him
to the charge of anthropomorphism, and the Pseudo Clementines (xvii. 2)
go farther. The Audæus of the text appears to be the first founder
of anything like an anthropomorphic sect.

702 Anthropomorphism, or the attribution to God of a human form
is the frequent result of an unintelligent anthropopathism, which
ascribes to God human feelings. Paganism did not rise higher
than the material view. Judaism, sometimes apparently anthropomorphic,
taught a Spiritual God. Tertullian uses expressions which exposed him
to the charge of anthropomorphism, and the Pseudo Clementines (xvii. 2)
go farther. The Audæus of the text appears to be the first founder
of anything like an anthropomorphic sect.